Spiers, Tello Lead Dragons to 4-1 Win in Opener at Fort Wayne

Dragons 4, Fort Wayne 1

Click here for the box score

Fort Wayne, Ind.—Dayton starting pitcher Carson Spiers was brilliant over five innings and Jose Tello hit a home run to lead the Dragons to a 4-1 win over the Fort Wayne TinCaps on Tuesday night. The win was the third straight for the Dragons and allowed them to remain in first place in the High-A Central League’s East Division.

Spiers (SPY-urs) allowed just two hits, no walks, and no runs while striking out seven. He threw just 67 pitches and retired the last 10 batters he faced to earn the win and improve to 2-1.

The Dragons jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the third inning when Tello lined a home run to left field, his fourth homer of the year. The Dragons added another run in the fifth when Juan Martinez was hit by a pitch to start the inning, went to second on a ground out, and scored on Jacob Hurtubise’s double off the glove of left fielder Tirso Ornelas.

Fort Wayne scored in the seventh on a solo home run by Agustin Ruiz, but the Dragons responded with two runs in the eighth. Hurtubise was hit by a pitch to ignite the rally and Francisco Urbaez sacrificed him to second. James Free singled to right to move Hurbubise to third, and a wild pitch scored the run to make it 3-1. Alex McGarry singled to center to move Free to third, and Victor Ruiz drove in the run with an infield ground out to give the Dragons a 4-1 lead.

John Ghyzel pitched out of trouble to work a scoreless eighth inning and Ricky Karcher pitched a perfect ninth for his second save.

The Dragons finished the night with seven hits. Hurtubise and Free each had two. Urbaez had a hit in the first inning to extend his hitting streak to 14 straight games, the most this season by a Dayton batter.

Notes: The Dragons have outscored their opponents 16-6 over their three straight wins…The Dragons are 15-4 on the road when scoring at least four runs…Dayton is 5-2 in seven meetings with Fort Wayne.

The Race: With the win, the Dragons remained in first place, one-half game ahead of Lake County in the East Division of the High-A Central League. Great Lakes fell to one and one-half games behind the Dragons by losing on Tuesday night.

Up Next: The Dragons (37-29) play at Fort Wayne (29-37) again on Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. in the second game of the six-game series. Lyon Richardson (2-4, 5.83) will pitch for Dayton against Danny Denz (0-1, 4.91).

On the Air: All Dragons games are broadcast on radio on 980 WONE AM Fox Sports. Games can be heard on smart phones, iPads, and other mobile devices via the free Dragons Mobile App, or on a computer at wone.com. Games are also available on HD Radio on 104.7 WTUI HD 2.

For Dragons 2021 ticket information, call (937) 228-2287 or go to daytondragons.com.

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